The Unit on Geriatric Psychopharmacology has focused its efforts on the in depth study of Alzheimer's disease. The scope of investigations range from diagnostic studies to drug trials to basic science laboratory experiments. Diagnostic tests include several newly-created behavioral rating instruments, cerebrospinal fluid investigations, acute drug challenges, neuroendocrine measures, and neuroimaging techniques such as PET and SPECT scans. The drug trials are multifaceted to allow our patients entry to the program at various levels of dementia severity. These drug studies include a short-term trial of DHEA, a long-term trial of deprenyl versus hydergine, and short-term combination trials of physostigmine plus deprenyl, fluoxetine or lithium. Basic science studies focus on the development and characterization of a neuronal cell culture model of Alzheimer's disease using olfactory epithelium from Alzheimer patients and normal controls. These diverse studies are vertically integrated such that any diagnostic finding can be used as a marker for potential therapeutic efficacy and any basic science advance can quickly lead to a potential therapeutic intervention. With this type of coordinated research, the Unit on Geriatric Psychopharmacology has greatly expanded the breadth of its Alzheimer's investigations over the last year.